The short version is, I captured Santa Clause last year so I could get more presents but I forgot to feed him. This is how I found him this morning, sooooooo ... I would enjoy today if I were you, I'm not so sure how Christmas is going to be this year.

The coolest part of the Halloween Carnival at Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree is the Pumpkin Carvers. They carve, cut and paint using the pumpkins as there canvas. It's really amazing to see in person. The Queen of Hearts was the best with her arms made of a pumpkin cut in half. She's big too, about 4 and 1/2 feet

Saturday, October 27, 2012

With the infamous Punkin Chunkin coming up in the Begining of November, I decided to get in shape and join the fun this year.

I started days ago, doing a push up, jogging around the coffee table (twice I might add) and excersizing with jumping jacks till my pants fell (it was after the fourth jack I jumped that they gave out and fell exhausted to the ground)

Primed, pumped and ready to go, I needed to find a punkin to chunkin for some practice and headed on down to Disneyland where a plethora (yes I used that word) of punkins awaited my chunkins.

I came across a punkin name Paula Punkinstone near the Haunted Mansion Holiday. It was perfect, not too big and not too small. The idea was to chunkin it over the fence, across the yard and into a window of the old boarded up Haunted Mansion.

I squatted down, lifted up Paula Punkinstone and chunkin'd her as far as I could ... which was about a foot and half. She landed on the fence right in front of me. To make matters worse, Paula Punkinstone started heckling me, 'Is that all you have? My Grandma throws farther and thats with one hand on her walker. Have you tried eating your spinach, Popeye? I've moved further with my own flatulence. You throw like a girl!

So, I did what any self respecting guy would do, I went and got me a girl to punch Paula Punkinstone in the eye. Thank you Minnie Mouse.

Friday, October 26, 2012

After having three Chili Cone Quesos at the Cozy Cone Motel, I started to walk down the street to the Radiator Springs Curios shop. Above the door hung a sign, If We're Here, We're Open. I walked around the corner to the front door and entered. I didn't see anyone so I called out, 'Hello?' A reply came from the back somewhere, 'No One Here'. Oh, I thought to myself, they must be closed.

I exited the store and started around the corner when I noticed people in the window again. Hmm, must of just opened re-opened, I thought. I turned and headed back around to the corner to the front door. As I entered the building once again, there was no one there, silient except for the chirp of a cricket coming from a dusty corner. 'Is Anyone Here?' I called. I muffled reply came back, 'Nope'.

Odd, I thought. I never had this problem before. I always come here after having three Chili Con Queso from the Cozy Cone Motel next door. Confused, I headed back out the door and around the corner. From the side of the building, I heard a small stampeed of feet from the inside, so I peaked in from the bottom corner of the window. People, lots of people, some working, some shopping but lots of people.

Quietly, I snuck around. I rolled through the grass and crawled under windows and came to the front door without being noticed. I jumped through, surprising everyone! With hands in the air and high pitched screams they all ran around in random circles and headed out the back door like a stampeed of terrorized cows.

'I Know You're Open', I yelled! From behind the back door a muffled voice replied, 'No No, If We're Not Here, We're Not Open!'

View on black or I'll come visit you after I have my three Chili Cone Quesos.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

The day was dark and cold as I sat at my desk with my feet up, wondering how I was going to pay my bills. I hadn't had a job in months. My phone rang, startling me. I almost forgot what it sounded like it had been so long. It was Roger. He had an emergency and begged me to come to the Fire Dept right away. I played it cool and told him I would be there as soon as I finished some business. I lied but I didn't want him to know I was desperate.

I arrived an hour later and knocked on the door. Roger answered. He's a bit squirrelly, that rabbit, so I made him pay up front. I asked him what his problem was, is Jessica in trouble again? Was something stolen? Someone die? He shook his head and told me I had to see with my own eyes. He ran up the stairs two at a time, I followed. We went down the hall and entered the second door on the left. It was the bathroom. He pointed to the floor in front of the toilet. There was a tiny spider. He yelled KILL IT! I have to peeeeeeee and it wont let me past!!!

My mouth hit the ground and my eyes bugged out as I let out a big girly scream. I ran! Down the hall, down the stairs and just before I got out the door I heard him scream, Where you going? I yelled over my shoulder, Lunch!, then slammed the door as I left.

After numerous attempts at doing the Mexican Hat Dance with a a baseball cap, Mrs Bone Daddy finally broke down and bought a sombrero. And a donkey. But I don't think Mr Bone Daddy is too thrilled about the donkey. Or keeping it in the house. Especially after it drank all of Mr Bone Daddy's beer.

View on black or Mrs Bone Daddy will do the Mexican Hat Dance with a baseball cap instead.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

In my quest to find dirt, rust, dust and broken down things at the Disneyland Resort, I ran in to the motherlode of neglet and it was called Radiator Springs in Cars Land. Everywhere I looked things were old, dirty, rusted, broken and negleted. You would of thought I walked right out of Disney California Adventure Park and right in to an old desert town. I took hundreds of pictures and documented everything and sent my proof to the powers that be at the Disneyland Resort.

This morning I got a responce in the form of a letter. It just said, 'Dork' and was signed by Mickey Mouse.

View on black or I'll smack you with the rusted sign. (where do you think all those dents come from)

Yes I did. I thought they were serial killers. Those plastic smiles grinning at me as the dead eyes stared right threw me. I ran! I may have screamed a little too. Not sure. Some seven year old found me and explained it was just Mickey and Minnie Mouse in Country Garb.

View on black or Serial Killers ... I mean Country Mickey and Minnie will come hack ... visit you.

Our Daily Challenge: Rules of Third (I use this rule a lot so I thought I would try something a little different. Although the characters fill up most of the frame, only General Palpatine Stitch is in focus in one third of the frame)

Thursday, October 18, 2012

I saw this horseless carriage fly by me the other day driven by Mrs. Ragdoll Pumpkin. Sitting next to her was her husband, Mr. I'm Gonna Be Pie Pumpkin If She Keeps Insisting On Driving.

You don't need to say a word Mr. I'm Gonna Be Pie Pumpkin If She Keeps Insisting On Driving, I hear ya loud and clear.

Now if you don't mind, I need to run and hide before this gets read.

View on black or Mrs. Ragdoll Pumpkin will drive behind you while putting on her make up, flipping through the radio, texting her hubby next to her cause she's not talking to him and shaving her legs all while drinking her fourth cup of coffee.

Friday, October 12, 2012

I wanted to get a shot of a very scaredy pumpkin face. Of course I wanted it to be candid and natural and not posed.

So I found this pumpkin sitting off by itself in a darkend corner. I dressed in my best Dracula costume and jumped out from behind the trees.

"Bluh, I've come to drink your blude!" I exclaimed. The pumpkin stared at me with a wooden expression.

I had to try again. I put on my best Frankenstein costume and again jumped out from behind the tree.

"Arrrggghhhhhh" I growled, "hehehe" the pumpkin giggled.

"MmmmmMMMM" I went, dressed as the Mummy. He grabbed some of the toilet paper I had wrapped around me as bandages and a magazine and told me he'd be back in a few.

"Arrrrooooooooooo" I cried as a Werewolf! He threw a bone down the street. I chased it.

"OooOOOooooOOO" I moaned as a Ghost. "I ain't afraid of no ghost" he says. I stared at him blankly, he stared back.

Then I had it.

I threw on a big blue dress, an apron and ugly white shoes. Dragging my left foot, I limped across, "Brainsssssssssss" I gargoled. The pumpkin stared at me once again and declared, " I most definitly am NOT afraid of no Zombie!"

So I explained I was no ordinary Zombie and in my best impersonation of her, I exclaimed, " I am Julia Childs Zombie " as I whipped out a tray of pumpkin seeds, " and today we are going to learn how to roast PUMPKIN BRAINSSSSSSSS! "

I got the priviledge to see the Art of Frankenweenie at Disney California Adventure. I went with high expectations, you know the kind that are so high your bound to be let down. Well, I wasn't let down. I was overwhelmed in fact. The main focus are these three sets, the classroom, the kitchen and the attic. Only a couple of feet wide and a couple of feet deep, the detail in these miniature sets is beyond belief.

Using traditional stop motion filming with the aid of computers, they were able to smooth out the motion of the puppets.

This is the attic set where Victor Frankenstein, inspired by his science class, brings back his dog Sparky from the dead. Even the lighting was well thought out.

To give you a better perspective of the size of this, look behind the dog Sparky and you will see the top part of a four paned window. One window pane is slightly smaller in width then the lens on my Nikon D200 camera.

View on black or I'll put you under that 1950's hair dryer for five hours.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

This pumpkin at the Haunted Mansion Holiday told me my name is on that Naughty List. So I scaled the old house to get to the list and in the middle of changing 'Michael' to 'Michelle' (sorry to all the Michelle's out there, you are NOW on the naughty list) was spotted by the Disney Police. As they threw rubber Mickey Mouse shaped merchandise at me, I made my escape in Jack Skellington's Santa Sleigh.

It wasn't until I started to hear sirens that I remembered the army shot down Jack and I probably should of stolen a better escape vehicle.

After a foot and half, the sleigh was hit, I crashed to the ground and my name was added back to the Naughty List.

I figure in a few day, I will be able to sneak back and change the name again. Sorry Mitchel's, your going on the Naughty List.

I got the priviledge to see the Art of Frankenweenie at Disney California Adventure. I went with high expectations, you know the kind that are so high your bound to be let down. Well, I wasn't let down. I was overwhelmed in fact. The main focus are these three sets, the classroom, the kitchen and the attic. Only a couple of feet wide and a couple of feet deep, the detail in these miniature sets is beyond belief.

This set is an extension of the classroom. It's on the back of the classroom and is only about 2 inches deep. I think this section that I shot is about 2 feet long, not really sure.

The details of all the advertisements on the bulletinboard is what caught my eye here. The folded corner of the Cheerleader tryouts, the way the school rules paper doesn't lay flat, the edges of the paper slightly dirtier from being held and of course, the lovely frog which I don't want to believe is dead but rather got drunk and happened to pass out in this particular section of the set.

View on black or I'll smack you with a drunk frog ... who is possibly dead.

Monday, October 8, 2012

I got the priviledge to see the Art of Frankenweenie at Disney California Adventure. I went with high expectations, you know the kind that are so high your bound to be let down. Well, I wasn't let down. I was overwhelmed in fact. The main focus are these three sets, the classroom, the kitchen and the attic. The detail in these miniatures is beyond belief.

This is the Kitchen. It's about two and a half feet wide and four feet long. Mrs Frankenstein is approximately 7 inches tall. I love the dad reading the newspaper as the mom makes breakfast for Victor with Frankenweenie sitting next to him. Although the front is plexiglass (left side of photo) the other three sides are up and have windows. This shot was actually taken through one of the kitchen windows

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Let's cut to the chase, everyone farts. We spend our entire life coming up with unique ways to blame it on anything and everything. We are embarrassed by it yet we all do it. Fill a room with 30 people and an all too familiar smell and you would get 30 comments along the lines of "I didn't do it", "I don't smell anything", "did something just die?" It's in our nature, we can't help it.

Opening the front door one cold, late October afternoon, I entered the house only to be hit with an over bearing smell. I called out to my roommate, "I think the pumpkin went bad, it stinks". He responded from the other room "it's fine, it was the cat". How sad, I thought, we've come to blaming the cats. I hollered in response, "The cat's 2 years old, you mean to tell me he chose today to start blowing air poo?" And then the familiar response, "wasn't me".

The following day as I sat at the computer doing what I'm sure was extremely important things, the familiar smell of rotten pumpkin came bellowing up. I looked across at my roommate who had a big smile on his face and was trying unsuccessfully not to laugh when he burst out with, "wasn't me, I swear", then rolled off the couch with tears in his eyes, laughing. "Go outside", I begged. It was too cold to open all the windows. "Better yet", I said, "go down the street". Yes, that bad. With the laughter turning to giggles now, he says "I swear, it's the cat"

For a week this went on and every time, he blamed the cat. I pointed out that it only happened when he was around. I pointed out that before I could smell anything, he started laughing. I pointed out the cat was only 10 pounds and 10 pounds of cat could not produce that.

At the end of the week as I sat at the computer doing what I know was extremely important things, I was enveloped by rotten pumpkin smell once again. I turned in my seat, stood with my finger pointing accusingly, opened my mouth to speak and realized, I was alone. Almost alone I should say. At my feet lay 10 pounds of cat looking up at me. Although he couldn't speak, I could read his eyes and they simply said, "Wasn't me".

Saturday, October 6, 2012

As I exited the narrow alley that left the Fall Festival at Big Thunder Ranch at Disneyland, I stopped for a moment to tie my shoe. I placed my camera to the left of me, my bags to the right, knelt down and began the slow tedious act of tieing my shoe.

Up and over, round and round .... wait a minute, thats not right. Over and under, up and down ... that can't be it either. A tap on my shoulder broke my concetration as my other half told me to hurry, I was blocking the way and people couldn't get through.

With added pressure, I tried again. Make bunny ears, twist and turn ... my laces fell to the side of my shoe like over cooked spagghetti. Another tap on my shoulder interupted me as I was told once again to hurry, people where building up behind us and were now wall to wall.

Sweat hung from my brow as I leaned over once again. Loop, flip, flop, pull. I could hear wood cracking as the fence began to feel the weight of people pressed against it. Turn, circle, wiggle, snap. Moaning of people as they began to pile up higher and higher behind me. Yank, push, curl, circle. More cracking of wood as the fence hit its limit. Loop, circle, under, pull.

I did it!!! As I stood to get out of the way, there was a big snap, followed by a crackle, then a huge pop as people and Fall Decorations from the festival area flew in every direction!

And that is how Disneyland got its Fall Colors

This lovely arrangement fell right in front of me. Along with a shoe. Not mine.

View on black or I'll tie my shoe in front of you. Not in hurry are you?

Friday, October 5, 2012

Sometime this week, I recieved my Quarter of a Millionth view here on flickr. Thats a combined number between photo's, stream, sets and collections but still, 250,000 different clicks all to look at my photos. So I decided to give a speech to thank all my fans. I sent out flyers, made phone calls on my Fisher Price cell and put on lots of masscara so you would be able to see my tears of joy as they raced down my cheek even from the back row.

The curtains went up as the sun went down and with a squirt of visine in my eyes to start the crying, I stepped onto the stage. With a fly slowly circling my head I looked out among the audience. Cactus Kilroy stood in front of Cadillac Range, and that was it. I was mad, real mad. So I threw my Fisher Price cell phone, yelled 'I hate you all' and stormed off the stage like a Diva!

Afterwards, I got to thinking, maybe I should of gave you all more than 5 minutes to get from where ever you are to here. Anyway, here is my speech in it's entirety.

TTTHHHHHPPPPPTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!! (doing best Elvis impersonation) Thank you, thank you very much. (then I exit the stage as the song 'I'm Sexy And I Know It' plays)wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle

Thursday, October 4, 2012

I got the priviledge to see the Art of Frankenweenie at Disney California Adventure. I went with high expectations, you know the kind that are so high your bound to be let down. Well, I wasn't let down. I was overwhelmed in fact. The main focus are these three sets, the classroom, the kitchen and the attic. The detail in these miniatures is beyond belief. In fact, as I peered through the glass, I was lost in there world. I don't know there names yet, but the girl in the back looks utterly confused as to what is being taught, the one in front of her is obviously up to know good while the one on the right looks bored out of his gourd. I on the other hand was the one face planted on the ground crying, mumbling into the carpet, 'but it's sooooo good' as my other half stood on me to get a better shot of the miniatures.

and would you PLEASE stop saying I am the one in front of the girl! I am NOT up to no good ... I already did it.

View on Black or I'll scoot across the floor in my socks and shock you.

The nights grew longer and the days colder as Fall came into it's own. She walked cautiously down the path beneath the Pumpkin Trees in bloom with only the light of the full moon as her guide. She stepped on the tail of a black cat who hissed then glared at her with a look that would kill if she stared too long at it. She continued down her dark lonely path slowly.

Spider webs hung from the tree, some so low she had to crawl in the dirt to get past but still she carried on. Past snakes, bats and zombies, she was unstoppable.

Up ahead she could see a house in the clearing, a house in the middle of nowhere, the last house in the land she had yet to be at. She made her way, the last little bit of her journey through the ghosts,goblins and creatures unknown before finally reaching the door.

The door looked ancient, a cloud of dust floated around her hand as she knocked on the door. Nothing. The time had come, finally, her journey would be finished. She held up her head, straightend her shoulders and wrapped on the door once again. "Avon calling, We have the new Fall Catalog and I know you will JUST die when you see it."

View on black. I know you will just DIE when you do

Bokeh Thursday: Cold

I choose this photo as cold because it represents fall, with it's yellow leaves in bokeh and and small pumpkin with bat lips. Fall is cold to me (except right now after a week that saw 100 degrees here). Winter is freezing. Also, the pumpkin is metal, cold metal. Cold, evil, diabolical metal. RUN!

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

I found a wonderful spot on the curb to finally sit down and just stop. I was there for two minutes when I got a tap on my shoulder. The friendly Disney Parking Police told me I had to feed the meter or I was in danger of being towed. I pshawed him and went about my business of doing nothing but parking my rear on the curb. Out of nowhere, this hook hitches the back of my belt, lifts me off the ground and flings me to an impound yard. I forgot, Tow Mater works there now. Well atleast I got free time to park my rear in the impound lot ... wha? It cost $100 to get out? Why I oughta ....

View on black. For every 15 minutes you don't, I'm charging you a quarter.

Monday, October 1, 2012

As I was attempting to photograph the lovely twisty tie that was holding up the lovely twisty branches on the lovely twisty fence, this horrible twisted pumpkin kept jumping up in to my shot yelling boogie boogie boogah! So I pulled out my lovely sledge hammer I always carry with me in case of emergency and made minced meat pie out of him.

Visit my other blogs for some great short stories

About

All photographs are by me unless otherwise stated. I use an HTC Droid Incredible and a Nikon D200. I am an amatuer...as you can tell by some of the images. :)

Our Daily Challenge - the new one

Our Daily Challenge - the new one is a Flickr Group. The object is to take a photo once the daily challenge is posted. It is really kind of cool. It makes you think about what you are going to photograph rather than just go out and shoot what you find. Anyone can join this group.

Our Daily Topic

Our Daily Topic is a Flickr group where you post a photo after the Topic has been posted. The main difference between Daily Topic and Daily Challenge is The Daily Topic photograph could have been taking in the past where as the Daily Challenge has to be taken AFTER the challenge post is posted. Anyone can join this group.